


Liability

by eringilbert



Category: Legion (TV)
Genre: Bonding, Familial themes, Father-Daughter Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 11:48:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12035274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eringilbert/pseuds/eringilbert
Summary: "I guess it just takes a lot to process for me."A man lost in time and a woman with no time left find out they have more in common than they ever thought





	Liability

**Author's Note:**

> So, uh, this was the result of a four hour car ride in stand still traffic (thanks Irma) but nonetheless I'm so proud of it. This is wishful thinking for season two but I really hope that these two will have a great dynamic together. I don't own anything!

Oliver hadn't quite adjusted to his new "living arrangement." However, he never really felt like he eventually would. That's probably why he found himself wandering the massive mind palace he found himself in. The projections outside signaled that it was late evening or early morning. Either or, the stars shone and glimmered against the blue velvet sky. He sighed.

He entered the pool area. That was when he saw her. A woman smoking a cigarette with her feet in the pool. Oliver thought she could probably use some company, so he decided to walk over and join her.

"Enjoying the night, Lilly?" he said as he sat down. She was taken aback by the sudden company, but she straightened back up and let out a forced laugh.

"We've been over this, grandpa," the woman said, "It's Lenny. Don't get it twisted." With that, she took another drag. 

They sat in silence for a minute or so before Oliver broke it with a, "So what's it like here?" Lenny sighed and said "I don't fucking know," as she kicked the water. The pool did not splash or ripple. Figures.

"Ya want one?" Lenny asked, waving a box of cigarettes that simply read 'CIGARETTES' on the box. Oliver nodded and withdrew one from the box. An arm reached over and lit the cigarette from him. He's never gonna get used to those mysterious arms.

They smoked in silence until Lenny asked, "So, who are you?"

Oliver was a bit taken back by this question, knowing that she didn't really give a shit about him when he arrived. Was this some kind of trick? Was she trying to get him to pry out information for her own benefit? Was this really her?

"Nobody, really," he finally said after some deliberation. Lenny wasn't having it.

"You've got to be kidding me," she said, "we are literally going to be stuck in this fucking hellhole for all of eternity. You might as well spill the beans!" She took another cigarette.

Oliver took another drag, contemplating her point. It was a pretty solid one. "I guess you could say I'm a man out of time," he settled on.

Lenny took her feet out of the water and turned towards him. "What do you mean?" she asked with a skeptical look on her face.

"It's a very long story, my dear," he began, "but let's just say I haven't quite been in touch lately." That was when Lenny got up and started walking towards the house, throwing her cigarette into a nearby bush. Unsure of what to do, Oliver ran after her.

"HEY!" he yelled, but she continued walking. "What's wrong? Is it something I said?" 

Suddenly, Lenny turned around and let out another fake laugh. "Is it something I said?" she mockingly said in a horribly executed accent. "Listen, popsicle brain, when I ask you to talk about who you are, I'm trying to get to know you. I don't wanna hear all this fake deep vague bullshit!" Oliver wasn't sure if it was just a reflection of the lights, but it almost seemed like she had tears in her eyes.

He reached out to her shoulder. She swatted it away. In all honesty, Oliver thought she hit him pretty hard. The next thing he knew, she was already inside, sitting on a large chair.

Oliver walked in and saw her with her face in her hands. This must've meant that he was right about his initial thought; she really was hurt by whatever he said. He knelt down so his knees hit the ground and began rubbing her arm.

"I'm sorry," she said through her hands.

"Hey, no need to be," he replied. With that, she put her hands on her lap and looked down at the older man. Tears were streaming down her face.

She tried to talk but it appeared that her words kept getting stuck in her throat. Oliver grabbed her hand and rubbed it gently. "Don't worry," he said, "take your time." She gave a weak smile.

"I-I just haven't," she began, "h-had any-yone with me h-here in so long, and when you were just-"

"Not answering you?" Oliver said.

"Yeah," said Lenny. "It just seemed like you didn't care. That I was just an inconvenience." She got up from the chair and joined Oliver on the floor.

"Come here," he said as he pulled her in for a hug. "You're far from an inconvenience. I'm sorry for not answering fully. I guess it just takes a bit to process for me."

Lenny rested her head on his shoulder, initially unsure of what to do. Instead of trying to fight it, she slowly wrapped her arms around the older man. 

"You know, I've never had this happen to me before," she whispered.

"Been sucked into a parasitic mutant's mind? Yeah, me neither," Oliver said with a laugh. Lenny fell silent.

"No," she began, "I've never been in this...arms around body thing before."

Oliver released her. "You've never had a hug before?" he asked surprisingly.

"A hug! That's what it's called!" Lenny replied. "But yeah, never had one. It feels nice though." 

Suddenly, she let herself out of the embrace and asked, "If I tell you my story, would you?" She stuck out a finger and pointed at him. "And NO vague shit."

Oliver nodded. Lenny grabbed his hand again, apparently trying to keep her grip on reality as it was presented to her.

"My parents didn't really give a shit about me," she began. "My mom raised me on her own since I was seven. She stopped raising me when I was sixteen after she caught me making out Sandra Coy at the park."

"She kicked you out?" Oliver asked, a little shocked. It wasn't because she was apparently trying to tell him that she was gay, since he had his fair share of boyfriends as a young man, but because someone could be that cruel. She nodded in response. "What about your father? Did you have any contact with him?"

The younger woman stopped looking at Oliver's face and dropped her head toward her lap.

"When I was seven, we had this huge father daughter dance one day. My dad said that he was gonna go to the store to get a decent tie," she tightened her grip on Oliver's hand. "He never came back. I remember waiting all night, in this ugly pink dress that was a size too big for me. But he never fucking came back."

He could see that she was starting to cry again. In response, he slowly reached his hand towards her face. He carefully wiped the tears away, hoping that this wasn't invasive. She smiled.

"My mother died while giving birth to me," Oliver responded. "I never knew her either, but my father said she was a lovely woman. I know the situations are different-"

"It still really helps," Lenny responded, "It's nice to have someone that kinda understands." She waved her hand to him, signaling him to continue telling the story.

Oliver nodded. "My father was always running around. Traveling salesman, he was. Way before your time," he said. Lenny chuckled, and he continued. "When he was around, he feared for my safety. He knew I had...abilities, but he didn't know how to handle them," Oliver looked up at the ceiling and the two of them sat in silence.

"If you don't wanna talk about it," Lenny said, "you don't have to."

"So now you don't care if I don't talk?" Oliver said sarcastically. 

Lenny groaned. "Shut up, old man!" she playfully said as she grabbed a pillow from the chair and hit him with it. Oliver grabbed the pillow and threw it across the room, laughing as he did so. The two of them laughed, but not hysterically; rather, it was the kind of laughter that accompanied good friends exchanging gossip, pet owners witnessing a wild antic from their companion, and most importantly, a father and daughter having fun on the rare day that they both aren't busy.

Wait a minute.

"Lenny," he said quietly as he got up from the floor, "would you come with me?"

"I'm not fucking you!" she practically yelled.

"WHAT? No no!" Oliver replied as he desperately tried to backtrack. Suddenly, Lenny burst out into laughter again.

"Oh shit, man! You're so fucking gullible!" she said as she tried calming herself down. After a minute of winding down, she got up from the floor and said, "lead the way, captain."

After arriving to Oliver's quarters (he wasn't sure why they would need quarters, considering this was all just an illusion anyways), he went immediately went to an antique record player. Oliver grabbed a record, set it down, and dropped the needle down onto the record.

"What are you doing?" Lenny said as he began to sway.

"You said that you weren't able to attend that dance," Oliver began, "well, isn't it time to fix that?"

Lenny felt her throat close up. She walked toward the older man, who slowly grabbed both of her hands. Unsure of what to do next, she found herself putting her feet on top of his, just as she envisioned doing it with her father all those years ago.

Like a river flows  
Surely to the sea  
Darling so it goes  
Somethings are meant to be  
Take my hand  
Take my whole life too  
For I can't help  
Falling in love with you

"This was my wife's favorite song," Oliver whispered into Lenny's ear. "When we were younger, we would slow dance anytime we heard this song, just like this," he continued. Oliver felt tears beginning to form in his eyes as he thought of Melanie. She was his everything, and now he's nothing to her. 

"It's beautiful," she replied. Lenny buried her face into his shoulder again, gripping his hands tight as she began to cry.

Just as the song ended, Oliver guided her to his bed. As they both laid there, he could hear her mutter "I want to go home" over and over again. In response, he rubbed her back, trying to relax her. It seemed to work, as she began to drift to sleep.

Oliver stared at the ceiling. If this was how things were going to be from now on, at least he had someone he could call a friend, a companion, but most importantly:

Family

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on twitter @lottejansson or on tumblr @tanniswright


End file.
